


Three, Two, One

by oonabashed



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: F/M, JUST, M/M, Multi, NO HOMO BROCULTURE WILL FEATURE A BIT, Other, and holster struggles a bit with expressing some things, and ransom has excel charts so he doesn't have to think too hard about some things, and yo, but everyone's having fun, but like, idk idk, lardo has cool friends, look - Freeform, oh shit yeah, or will, somewhat undernegotiated threesomes??, there's homo, they aren't all completely sure of who's interested in who while they're in bed, they're both dumb, this probably counts as an explicit fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-28
Updated: 2017-06-15
Packaged: 2018-06-05 00:52:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6682849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oonabashed/pseuds/oonabashed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Do you remember that one picture Ngozi posted where the boys are asked via Bittle's twitter if they've ever drunkenly made out with a teammate and Ransom and Holster side eye each other in great discomfort? Well. Here's why.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I'm Trying To Make Us Three

**Author's Note:**

> un beta'd because I am generally unfond of showing my things to other people for the express purpose of editing. Forgive me and/or castigate me, your choice. Second fic of all time, first one was zimbits, save me from this hellhole of a comic and it's temptation.

Ransom and Holster were wingmen, and the term made sense off the ice as much as it did on. They tended to like different girls anyway, so whatever competition they had in the rink for speed or points usually withered away when they got to frat house ragers. By their freshman spring they were nearly as in sync when talking to girls as they were on the ice, constantly keeping an eye out for each other and sweeping in for the assist when necessary. But that night something was a little bit off. Holster saw her first- heard her really, he had a weird thing for horse laughs- but then Ransom realized that she was the one competing to break the curve in their biochem class. And she kept saying interesting shit about biological imperatives that Holster wasn't _exactly_ catching (really they were hella clever) and later Holster would claim Ransom was incapable of appreciating the sheer quantity of Golden Girls references she was throwing out. If Ransom didn't back down, well, neither did Holster.

So that's how it started, Erica Reyes laughing at the pair of them trying to help and also sabotage one another. She kissed Holster on the mouth at the same time as her hand wrapped around Ransom's hip to give his ass an appreciative squeeze. That was that. Their first threesome. It was... Pretty awesome actually. All Ransom had to do was cast some careful glances away from certain areas and acts. But it was kind of like porn, in other ways. Just like watching some stranger getting a blowjob, except instead of beating off in a room alone you were busy appreciating the finer points of cunnilingus, getting to make sure the woman was actually enjoying herself, cumming, that the sounds she made were real- kinda hot, actually. 

The thing is, Erica was on the swim team, and word got around with the swimmers and then the volleyball girls and eventually the rugby team (hot damn, those rugby girls), that the two of them would have a threesome and not be weird about it. And so without trying even a little bit Ransom and Holster found themselves in bed together with a girl in between them with pretty staggering frequency. They got pretty good at it to, knowing when to switch things up, who was gonna ask what questions, passing off different areas of attention. It occurred to Ransom to be weirded out that they were so in sync once or twice, but before he could think about it too much Ransom just added it to his excel list of all the ways he and Holster jived, along with soda mixology preferences and which part of the brownies they liked best. It just was what it was for a while, but by the end of sophomore year they'd pretty much stopped- people weren't asking as much anymore, for one. For another, this one time it was near midterms and Holster nearly snapped at a freshman on the rugby scrum line who started chatting them up at a team social, and after that Ransom didn't want to press anything. Besides, it wasn't as if either of them had been so into it that they ever started the night wanting a threesome. When they stopped falling into place it didn't make sense to go looking for someone who was game.

So it wasn't until Lardo's junior art thing that they really got another shot at it. Sable was one of the only art people who approached the whole Hockey team aside from Lardo herself (who introduced Sable with the sort of enthusiasm she'd never fake). Holtzy thought she was attractive right off the bat, but it took Ransom until she showed them her art, a stack of glass panels, each one painted with a transparent and obsessively detailed cell to catch his interest. By the end of the night she'd charmed Ransom by approving of his pastel shorts and love of PSLs, and got Holster around her finger by playing a pretty decent Liz Lemon to his Jack Donaghy. The banter was easy, the interest was genuine, so when she said that Lardo mentioned their sweet attic digs it just took a shared glance before they invited her back to the Haus. 

The whole getting naked process was pretty A++. Sable was genuinely interested, maybe even seemed a bit overwhelmed (happily so) trying to pay enough attention to both of them at once. It wasn't until her thighs had just about crushed Ransom's skull and kissed Holster's lips into cherry oblivion (and left a little lipstick elsewhere too) that she scrambled out from the tangle the three of them had made. 

Glassy eyed and cheerful she grabbed Ransom by his pits, dragged him up the mattress until the three of them were all kneeling at the head of Ransom's bed. Holster was trying admirably to distract her with what looked to be some pretty toe curling nips and sucks at her neck, but Sable held up well under pressure. 

"You've paid waaaay too much attention to me, and I appreciate it, but like, I'm a giving soul- what do you guys like to do with each other? I'm more than happy to help."

"Uh, we dont-" Ransom began, flushing lightly at the way Sable was smiling catlike at them.  
"It's not like that-" Holster tried. 

Sable's smile left. She looked at the two of them askance, all the langour and satisfaction of a moment ago falling away as she sat straight up.

"Wait, but like... I've heard about you two."

"Yeah but-"  
"Those stories are way-"

"You don't- wait you have threesomes with girls so much that you're literal sex encounter legends on the volleyball team but you don't do anything with each other?"

Ransom looked at Holster who had flushed red. Holster glanced at Ransom whose eyebrows were thoroughly knit together. Holster was the first to look away, withdraw a bit and shrug. 

"I think- we're just. Yeah, no. We don't."

Sable shook her head, and Ransom couldn't tell if she was trying to say she didn't believe it, or just getting that curly tuft of hair out of her face. He thought maybe the latter, since she was staring at the pair of them back and forth. 

"Well, what's the point then??"

Ransom huffed, almost laughing, looked at Holster again to ask for help- come on man, back me up- but Holster was staring at a pillow with a weird expression on his face Rans couldn't quite read. That was also weird, and Ransom felt like there ought to be an easy answer to this, like there would've been if one of them was a girl. But they'd never talked about it, not really. They just didn't touch each other, though looking had stopped being weird after a while. Rans started talking, or meant to, but his throat was tight and he had to swallow once before looking back at Sable who looked back with a sort of sheer intensity he didn't often see off the ice. 

"I think we're just focused on the girls, you know? I mean, If she wants both of us why not give her what she wants? And um. Yeah, it's just- I just like seeing what two people can do instead of one. It just looks like a lot of fun for the girls we do it with and yeah. That's nice."

"That's nice," Sable repeated. 

"Yeah."

"And it didn't seem like it would be nice and fun if two people did erotic things to you at once?"

"Look, it's just, we're both straight," Ransom answered, flustered. Like, yeah, it would be nice if he had someone going down on him while someone else kissed him or put a finger up his ass or whatever, but that wasn't something Ransom was gonna ask of Holster, his straight roommate/best bro for life. Hell no. 

Holster made a noise then, and Ransom shut up, waiting for him to talk. Sometimes Holster took a while to say things when he was really feeling them, and Ransom, for one, was mostly handling this by floating in the ill defined region between morbid humor and panic. He was quietly grateful that Sable seemed willing to follow his lead on keeping quiet. 

"Um, I'm not," Holster finally managed, soft, firm, and more tense sounding than he had been before their first game as frogs.


	2. From That Two

It took Ransom a hot second to get there, but Sable was way ahead of him, which threw Ransom for a special kind of loop once he made it to the logical conclusion. _No one_ was ahead of him when it came to Holster. 

"You're not straight," she said. It was a question- wasn't it? It should have been a question, but Sable said it like it was the only possible thing to say. Her voice had gone kinda high and strained. Ransom was staring at her because the words were so fucking weird to him, the fact that Holster had said something which would prompt it even stranger. And also he couldn't tell if Sable was about to laugh or lose her shit which he frankly didn't want to handle naked, his erection totally flagging while his face was still cooling from her vag juice, while his bestie admitted gay-ish feelings for the first time in a thirty-two month bromance that could only be described as epic. Ransom took a deep breath. His train of thought was becoming disordered and jumpy. He was missing things, he had to be. He hated missing things. 

How the fuck had he missed this?

"No. Bi. I guess I'm like... a two or whatever. On the Kinsey scale. I'm totally into tits and clits but..." Holtz trailed off and Ransom chanced a glance. He wasn't sure he'd ever seen Adam so red off the ice. 

Sable leaned a bit and grabbed one of Holster's hands. 

"Look dude, that's so cool, and I'm sorry you're having this discussion in bed with a near stranger and your best friend. But like, I genuinely thought this had already been addressed, Lardo like, said you guys knew each other super well, and I- shit-" For the first time that night Sable looked like she didn't know exactly what the next play was, but Ransom watched her rally and reminded himself to actually hang out with her sometime, if this night didn't totally fuck casual friendship over for everyone involved. "I really don't wanna fuck in an undernegotiated three way, you know?"

Shit. Was tonight gonna fuck up his friendship with Holster?

Holster coughed, but Ransom watched him nod (a sick feeling in his stomach sank in and Ransom had to remind himself that Holster couldn't possibly be responding to his internal fearmongering, even though he sometimes did just that), and Sable nodded back. 

Sable reached over with her free hand and took one of Justin's, locking eyes. For all he wanted to stare at the floor or the pillow, or really anywhere but Holster's cheeks gone red, the tight bobbing of his adam's apple, the flush spread blotchily across his chest, Sable had her own commanding presence. Enough that he had to take a break for a second from wondering what the fuck was going on with Holster, even though it was a hell of a lot easier than figuring out what was going on in his own mind. Ransom could see why Lardo liked her. 

"Hey, how you doing?"

That startled him. Uh, he was sitting naked on a bed having a revelation about his best friend who looked like he just wanted to hide somewhere. 

"Uh. I don't think I'm like... the important thing in the room right now."

Sable squeezed his hand, a little viciously. "Everyone sitting here is important."

It was Ransom's turn to flush. Fuck, what was wrong with him? 

"Um, I'm gonna- I'm gonna put some pants on."

Nodding to himself, Ransom crawled out of bed, padded over to his dresser and slipped on pajama bottoms. He thought about grabbing a t-shirt too, but what would Holster think of that? It wasn't like Ransom didn't trust him all of a sudden, or like they hadn't seen each other naked, ran around the locker rooms snapping rattails at each other since freshman year. It wasn't like Holster being bi changed anything. Right? Right. 

"Holtzy, Sable, you- you guys need anything?"

Shit why did his voice have to catch like that? Fuck. Ransom didn't turn around, trying to get his shit together. Sable spoke up first, a clear "We're fine," coming from her that made Ransom's hackles rise just a touch. Since when were she and Holster a we? 

_Since you used the second person plural, dipshit._

Holster took a breath, turned around, caught a flash of lily white ass as Holster finished pulling on his boxers, watched Sable get swallowed up by the t-shirt he'd discarded earlier, disappearing in fabric meant to cover someone at least fifty pounds heavier than she was. 

"Are you feeling more comfortable," she asked softly.

The question was genuine, and kindly meant, and Ransom bit back the response that no, he wasn't comfortable, he'd just found out his best friend had been keeping something huge from him for- FOR HOW LONG?- ages and he'd found out at the same time as a near stranger. No, he wasn't comfortable, he was a big ball of nerves, but for once he wasn't gonna (didn't want to, maybe even couldn't) ask Holster to help him with it because it wasn't Ransom's business feeling like this, he was supposed to be helping Holster after a big admission, not feeling like he wanted to sock his best bro in the face for fucking lying to him. 

Ransom took a breath. 

"I'm good. Holster. You okay, man?"

Holster gave him a long, long look then. It made Ransom's palms needle, unsure what to expect. 

"Yeah. Yeah- I'm okay, bro."

Ransom nodded. "Yeah. Okay. Good."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit shorter than the first, mostly because I want to switch over to Holster's POV and I didn't want to artificially drag anything out. Thoughts and feelings much appreciated, and as always feel free to come holler at me over on [tumblr.](oonabashed.tumblr.com)
> 
> Y'all are getting it early because my next few days are gonna be busy and I don't want to forget a promised update.
> 
> Edit: Also if anyone can tell me why the chapter one end notes are on chapter two that'd be cool. XD I don't know a03's quirks yet, apparently.


	3. And So It Goes

Ransom was freaking out. Holster could tell, just like he could tell when Ransom needed a study break, or when things with March were going badly (that week before they broke up had been tense as fuck), or when one of Ransom's professors had been vague about what they wanted in the lab write-ups. 

Everything Holster saw was all about tension, about studying the options. Ransom's fingers lingering over the knob of his shirt drawer, the way he turned on his heel. So he asked, he asked if Ransom was okay, because that's what he did. Not that he minded. Being there for Ransom came like second nature by now, felt as good as taking care of himself. Ransom was his best friend, and that meant a hell of a lot as far as Holster was concerned. 

But now, right after he'd told the truth (god, the whole truth, the weird truth, the maybe only relevant in this moment truth) Ransom was lying to him. Ransom hadn't lied to him in two hundred and thirty six days, and that last lie had been after relentless hounding for deets after March went down on Justin for the first time. Like, of course Rans was gonna lie about that. He was a gentleman. 

But now he was lying about being okay, and Holster could tell, and he knew, knew in the pit of his stomach exactly why this was happening. 

Ransom hadn't lied to Holster in two hundred and fifty six days. Holster had been lying to Ransom every day for nearly two years. 

Or, he might argue later, pointedly ommiting.

Sable was still holding his hand, and Holster frankly didn't know what to do about it. It was weird, having someone else here when it finally came out. 

He'd thought about this so many times. How he would say it. Maybe a joke about his bifocals. Probably something about Peggy Carter being totally bi, he could recognize the signs. But Holster hadn't needed a new prescription in a long time, and Ransom refused to get involved in the Marvel fandom. 

And really, what was he gonna do, get a point, do a celly, rip of his helmet and scream about how totally bisexual he was? 

Christ. This wasn't going at all how he'd wanted it to. 

Sable squeezed his hand, and his gaze shot from the pinstripe sheets to her, for a moment, her round face, the dark curls. Shit, what if it had been her instead?

But it wasn't. 

He squeezed back, flashed a smile, let go and slipped into some boxers before settling on the edge of the bed. 

Sable laid a hand on his shoulder, and it was warm and solid for a moment, but then she retreated, started gathering lace and elastic and chiffon from the places it had all been discarded. 

"Oof. Well." She was hopping into her slacks, and slipping on her bra under the tee she'd stolen. "I think I've overstayed my welcome. You guys have some serious stuff to talk about I think."

The t-shirt came off, but Holster could barely focus. His chest felt too tight, wound up with the weight of expectation. Sable slipped into the last of her clothes, then bent and gave him a kiss on the cheek before flitting over to Ransom and doing the same. 

"Thanks, though. I had fun. And if things get worked out... let me know, yeah?"

Holster almost laughed at the cheek in her voice and expression. It was a lot, in this moment, but so was everything else. Sable had held everything in balance for a moment, but here they were. She was walking out the door any moment now, and then they'd be left alone. 

Totally alone. 

If Holster's grip tightened on the sheets a little bit, he was almost certain Ransom was too distracted to notice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So y'all thought I was joking when I said I am an unreliable writer. 
> 
> Well I wasn't. But I hope you enjoy this anyway. My next goal is to outline this fic. Currently I have no idea where it's going which is part of why it took me so long to update. I could have it devolve into shameless smut, or be a slow burn fic that takes literally 40 chapters to get anywhere, so. I hope this is an enjoyable update, and you won't mind if it take a while for me to figure out what the next one will take us. THANKS FOR READING!!


	4. There's Ups And Downs

Sable gave a final jaunty wave, but her face was full of concern. Ransom knew what concern looked like. Ransom got that look shot at him all the time. The door clicked shut behind her. 

Silence with Holster was supposed to be uncomplicated. It was simple in the library between piles of textbooks and problem sets and scratch paper. It was easy on the ice during passing drills where there was nothing but skates and the scrape of pucks and the hard slaps of precisely shaped sticks. It was innocent on roadtrips, when Holster's showtunes started to give him a headache and they stopped listening to anything but the road beneath their wheels. It was gentle at night when there was nothing in the room but the whispery rise and fall of breath from the bunk beneath him. 

Ransom had figured out, once, why their silence was always so harmless. It went like this. Holster didn't like people. Holster didn't make a secret of not liking people. Holster didn't bother to talk to anyone he didn't like. Holster didn't even sit near people he didn't like. Holster didn't lie about who he did and didn't appreciate. And yet, Holster talked to Ransom. Holster laughed with Ransom. Holster took care of Ransom. Holster was there for Ransom. Holster didn't school his expressions. He didn't let his arms slacken when Ransom needed a hug that could keep his body from fraying out of itself. He didn't fucking lie about what he was and wasn't willing to be for people, so Ransom didn't need to worry about the silences when they came. They didn't gnaw at him and make him wonder if he was being charming enough, if he was making a good impression, if showing the extent to which he was almost constantly tense would make someone label him a fucking nutjob in their head for the rest of time. With Holster, it wasn't just sound that dropped away in the silences- it was Ransom's worry, too. 

But, this time, all the fright and uncertainty was still there. Not just there, but trying to claw its way out of his throat and jump at Holster, like throwing his shit at someone else might mean there was less waiting inside, ready to pour out of him. It never worked that way though.

Ransom took a deep breath, and looked at Holster. His eyes were still fixed on the door, even though Sable had left nearly a minute ago. His hands were not relaxed where he'd set them. He still hadn't put his glasses back on, but it didn't matter. Holster felt Ransom looking at him anyway. Their eyes met, even though from this distance Ransom was probably just a brown blur to Holster. He still knew where to look, though, and he kept looking, quiet. 

Ransom knew there was something to say to make this silence bearable again. He wanted to know what it was so badly. Maybe he could say that everything was okay. If Ransom believed it, he could have said it. But Holster had lied. He'd lied, and it didn't make sense. If he'd whispered it when they were alone, afraid to say it aloud it wouldn't feel this way. It wouldn't feel like a lie if Holster had told the team all at once, or with Shitty nearby wearing his affirmation hairband, or with Bitty hovering in the kitchen making a pie, or if he'd done it in a way- any way at all- which made Ransom feel like Holster trusted him and wanted to confide in him. Instead he'd done it with a perfect stranger in the room, sheepishly, not looking at Ransom until he steeled himself to do it and now he wasn't saying anything at all, as if he were afraid of what Ransom might say. Holster being afraid of this conversation was the only thing that made any fucking sense, but then again it didn't because what had Ransom ever done to make Holster scared? 

Ransom shifted on his feet. He knew he hadn't been the easiest to talk to the last couple of months. Breaking up with March had been tense, and applying to medical school wasn't a walk in the park and the MCATS had nearly killed him. Basically if this was something that had come up at all in the last five months Holster had probably been waiting for Ransom to get his head on straight to tell him. But why the fuck he'd choose their first threesome in a year and a half was beyond comprehension. Jesus. Ransom scrubbed his hands over his face and took a deep breath. Holster was pushing his glasses up his nose by the time Justin was ready to look at him again. 

The silence held onto the room like a curse. Fuck that shit. No one got to curse their friendship. 

"Did- I'm sorry if I haven't been there for you," Ransom settled on. 

"What, no- Rans that's- You've been fine. Great." Holster looked like he meant it too, and Ransom couldn't help the way his face was moving, upset, confused. He didn't want to make this hard for Holster, but what the fuck, none of this was making sense.

"You don't have to like... coddle me or anything, I know I've been fucking- I've been- There's been med school and March and-"

"I don't-" Holster shook his head, the way he did when people were saying things he thought were stupid. Problem being that Ransom couldn't see why he'd do that now, in this moment. Holster didn't bother with stupid people. Ransom's breath caught in his throat. "I don't care about that stuff, it doesn't matter what's going on with you, you're always- I don't- I haven't needed anything different from you, I swear."

Ransom's quiet then, for a moment. Holster's nose is redder than it was a minute ago, but he's not blushing, but then his hands have taken a rigid grip on the sheets. Ransom wants to say something Shitty would say. And he will, but he just, he doesn't understand why everything happened this way. 

"Well, like, I just. I feel bad. I mean. It's not a problem, or anything, but it's still a big deal Holster. Like, this is new shit, and I didn't even notice you were dealing with anything, and I just- I feel bad knowing I left you like... Alone with that." 

Holster huffed out a laugh and it's not the way he laughs when something's funny, but it's also not how he laughs when he's frustrated. Ransom could look and listen all he wanted, but he still had no clue what was happening. He watched Holster take a breath. He watched while Holster's jaw rolled from one side to the other. He wished he knew what Holster was thinking. He'd known without trying for so long that it feels weird to be adrift like this. 

"You didn't. I've literally never felt alone with you, okay? Hand to God, Justin." Something tight in Ransom's core loosens. Good. He was fiercely glad that he hasn't made Adam feel isolated. "And nothing about the last few months made it difficult to tell you, I promise. I've been- I haven't know how to say that for years. I just. Couldn't lie, you know?"

Ransom took a breath. Rolled his jaw from one side to the other. Isn't sure what he feels. It's been years. Holster didn't know what to say. Didn't want to lie, once Sable would've assumed the wrong thing, as if somehow that was a bigger deal than Ransom assuming for- how long was it now?- years. Ransom's eyes and neck and palms felt hot. His voice, when he finally gets it back was strangled, just louder than a whisper. 

"What the ever living _fuck_."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahem. Well. Hopefully it won't be another year before I write for this. In fact I'm pretty sure it won't be anywhere near that long again. Welcome back, I hope you all still enjoy, and remain patient with me T_T. Thanks for reading!!

**Author's Note:**

>   [Oh, and join me on my tumblr of indeterminate subject heeere](http://oonabashed.tumblr.com)


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